Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan has dubbed the revelations by Swapna Suresh, an accused in the gold smuggling case, as “shocking and disappointing.”
Addressing a press conference here on Saturday, Mr. Satheesan said that it pointed towards anti-social and anti-national activities and corruption centred around the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO), which was aware of the gold smuggling.
“The CMO itself had protected the accused and helped them to escape. It has now emerged that the audio clip of the accused absolving the Chief Minister of any wrongdoing as part of a script staged with the knowledge of the senior police officers,” he alleged.
That the much-vaunted LIFE Mission project was steeped in corruption had been proved yet again. The accused had confessed that the money in the locker was the bribe received in connection with the project.
It was hard to believe that the Chief Minister was unaware of things at his own office. The new revelations had corroborated all the previous allegations levelled by the Opposition.
A totally unqualified person was appointed to a senior post in a department under the Chief Minister. It was hard to believe that it was without his knowledge. The expenditure incurred towards her salary should be recovered from the responsible parties.
The CMO had made the backdoor appointment to a post entailing salary running into lakhs at a time when eligible candidates were protesting in front of the Secretariat. It was the CMO that linked the accused with Unitech and the commission in return was shared by all parties.
Mr. Satheesan accused that ₹9.25 crore was collected as commission out of ₹20 crore contributed by a foreign voluntary organisation for constructing houses for the poor.
All Central agencies suspended the probe into the gold smuggling case one fine morning, which was part of an unholy deal struck by the CPI(M) and the BJP in the last Assembly election.
The government is protecting a top bureaucrat who allegedly helped gold smuggling out of fear that he would expose the secrets. Mr. Satheesan said the government should withdraw the Lok Ayukta Ordinance in the wake of the opposition raised by the CPI.
